The Marine opens up with the Marine John Triton (John Cena) rescuing his comrades held hostage in Iraq--commando style! And what does his heroism get him? A discharge. Back home John tries to adjust to non-Marine life but it isn't easy. Helping to reintroduce him to the pleasures of domesticated life is his wife Kate (Kelly Carlson) but John’s passion for action cannot be tamed. After just one day at home John gets a job as a Rent-A-Cop security guard. And after just one day on the job John gets axed for karate-chopping some good-for-nothing dude. At the behest of his wife the two do what any fiscally shrewd couple does after being laid off from work--they go on a romantic getaway. While at a gas station they bump into--by sheer coincidence of course--a guy who’s been living on the other side of the law: Rome (Robert Patrick). Rome and his crew have just pulled off a massive diamond heist and are en route to collecting the money for their troubles when they kill a cop lose a tire and drive off in John’s car with Kate in the front seat. Now John’s got a motive to unleash his inner Marine and he will...Stop. At. Nothing. Dammit The Rock--er Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson--look what you’ve done: Your mediocre acting skills have begotten a whole generation of pro wrestlers who are trying to cross over. And even though there’s a lot of artifice going on inside the ring it’s just not the same kind. Enter Cena a superstar in the WWE and the latest Rock-ette. He may look like two movie stars--Matt Damon (on massive steroids) and the Hulk (in Technicolor)--but well you know what to expect in the acting department. Luckily he’s more of a stuntman in the movie than an emotion-channeler. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Patrick who recently did great work in Walk the Line and not so recently in T2. He’s the embodiment of that age-old saying: “What a shame to see him doing this." Finally there’s Carlson (Nip/Tuck). She’s gorgeous but if she’s looking to escape the mere contentment of TV for potential movie superstardom she might want to alter her role choices--even if it’s a tiny role in a GOOD movie. What kind of a director would accept a movie in which the star is a pro wrestler making his motion-picture debut? A like-minded rookie director John Bonito who’s just trying to get his feet wet in the realm of film and who has in the past had involvement with the WWE and the ECW--some sort of other wrestling league (apparently there’s more than one?) that’s who. Bonito actually makes the most of a premise and financial venture doomed from the start but hey even a movie like The Transporter--seemingly Bonito’s all-time fave--takes acting. And a script made for a male lead who can actually act. Cena is no Jason Statham obviously and Bonito is far from a Luc Besson type so The Marine winds up a bad made-for-Action-PPV (don’t pretend to not remember that channel!) movie. Bonito does however show great ability in highlighting his star’s muscles--though they seem like they could explode at any moment spewing hot protein powder and maybe other things. I said 'maybe'!

The truth on which Gridiron Gang is based simply does not bode well for incarcerated juvenile criminals trying to go the straight route. Probation officers Sean Porter (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) and Malcolm Moore (Xzibit) tried to buck the trend by doing something different and in a small way they actually succeeded. Disappointed with the grim reality that roughly 75 percent of teenage inmates will not be rehabilitated the two officers try to shake up the curriculum. After watching the young inmates feud with one another on a daily basis Sean decides to turn the group into a high school football team in hopes of unifying them and rescuing them from lives of crime. Initially met with great trepidation from the inmates their opponents and the bosses of their ward Sean hopes to prove all the doubters wrong. In the process he seeks freedom from his own demons as well. It’s difficult to truly knock Dwayne Johnson--he currently shuns the name that begat his celebrity The Rock in favor of his birth name--for taking the pledge of serious actordom. After all when any highly bankable actor makes such a decision--not to be confused with the comedy-to-drama crossover--isn’t it more admirable than the alternative of staying the same finance-driven course? Alas however Gridiron is absolutely not a serious actor’s vehicle. Johnson has a few surprisingly tender close-ups but most scenes feature him from afar shouting his best chest-bump voice. Xzibit attempting another kind of crossover (rapping to acting) is in almost every scene yet says almost nothing. Maybe the best performance comes from youngster Jade Yorker who plays the team’s hotheaded star.Yorker’s emotional range (and shirtless prancing...for the ladies) makes him one to keep an eye on in the future. Director Phil Joanou (Final Analysis) was given a twofold head start with Gridiron Gang: The genre that has become “football movies” has eclipsed “spelling-bee movies” in popularity and the film is based on a true story. (Movie execs foam at the mouth over the prospects of a true-story dramatization.) But although Joanou succeeds in reducing R themes to PG-13 theatrics and some sharp football visuals he appears unsure of whether he wants Gridiron to be more Remember the Titans or The Longest Yard. That doesn’t in turn mean that he has created a football-movie subgenre all his own but rather that his tentativeness relegates the movie to its generic status completely lacking in originality save for the original story on which it’s based. As for that original story it suffers the same fate as most of those before it: film-worthy true stories transpire over much longer periods than the course of a two-hour movie (United 93’s “real time” notwithstanding) so the all-important subtlety is inherently lost from the get-go as is oftentimes the heart of the story.

Producers of the big screen adaptation of cult TV show Magnum P.I. are keen to cast Ben Affleck as the famous Hawaiian private investigator.
Charles Floyd Johnson, one of the producers of the original 1980s TV series, insists the Daredevil star would be perfect for the mustachioed role after Tom Selleck held out too long to reprise the part.
Johnson hints Affleck would be his first choice to play the lead but, regardless of the final casting, he tells moviehole.net, "I think it will be wonderful.
"Unfortunately it won't star Tom. He was asked to do six or eight TV movies and at that time he really wanted to do it as a feature, so he held out on it and probably now they will consider him too old to do it."
Johnson names hot Hollywood producer Brian Grazer as the man behind the movie adaptation.
Article Copyright World Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.

In The Sentinel the president (David Rasche) faces a whole new threat: the Secret Service. One of its most respected agents Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is assigned to take care of the first lady (Kim Basinger) and does he ever! He has an affair with her which while utterly absurd sets the real story in motion. He receives steamy photos of the two in a blackmail scheme that he learns is part of an assassination attempt on the Prez for which he’s being framed. The agent spearheading the investigation David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) grows skeptical of Garrison whom he thinks had an affair with his wife. Before long Garrison’s on the lam in true “it wasn’t me it was the one armed guy” fashion. He’ll stop at nothing to clear his name and bring the bad guy(s) to justice even if it means hooking up to the Internet from a gas station (?) via his Dell computer the tech brand apparently most trusted by the Secret Service. Michael Douglas is back and…the same as ever. He loves to play his roles safe and it doesn’t get safer for him than the urbane almost-over-the-hill pro who yells a lot. He has a stranglehold on baby boomers who’ve stuck with him through thick and Catherine Zeta-Jones and they won’t be disappointed. Sutherland--the son of over-actors if Douglas is the father thereof--acts like he was filming on his 24 set which will make his devoted fans just as happy. The actors engage in one shouting match and it’s as engrossing as it is hilarious surprisingly. There should’ve been more of that dynamic since it’s apparently why people like these two. Eva Longoria appears in her first big movie to date and while she shows promise she’s dug herself a deep (pigeon)hole with Desperate Housewives: Fans long for a scantily clad drama queen not a docile fully clothed rookie agent. Think Sandra Bullock’s first big film role: Demolition Man. For a brief moment The Sentinel entertains us with an interesting and perhaps topical notion that a Secret Service agent with clear access to the president could be plotting an assassination. But then that’s where all the “entertaining” parts of the movie ceases of course. S.W.A.T. director Clark Johnson is at the helm here and he does up Washington D.C. Hollywood-style (in addition to giving himself a brief but important role in the film). Johnson tries to insert Sentinel into his S.W.A.T. template but S.W.A.T. for starters was R-rated and Sentinel should’ve been. When it’s not tripping over its implausibility The Sentinel trips over its predictability thanks to all of its more original predecessors from which it pilfers. And there’s so much product placement that if the film doesn’t do well at the box office we could see a ripple effect throughout the entire economy.

Smooth-talking operator Nick Persons (Ice Cube) is trying to land a date with Suzanne Kingston (Nia Long) a young attractive single mom. We know he's smooth from the moment he strides onto the screen flashing his cocky smile his blingage and his playa' attitude. Although Nick has sworn to never date a woman with children Suzanne is special. We know she's special because she gets Nick to stop his car in the rain for her. That's true love right there because Nick loves his car more than anything else. But when Suzanne miserable on a business trip in Vancouver wants her kids to visit her Nick gamely offers to make her wish come true (and his own in the process) by driving the children himself from Oregon to Canada. What Nick doesn't know is that 7-year old Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden) and his sister 11-year old Lindsey (Aleisha Allen) think that no man is good enough for their mom and they will do everything they can to make the trip a nightmare for him. In spite of their best efforts to sabotage their journey wreck Nick's car and send him packing both Lindsey and Kevin realize that Nick just may be the father they've been hoping for. And Nick realizes that maybe just maybe he could be a family man after all. But you saw that one coming right?
Are We There Yet? gives usually hard-as-nails Ice Cube a chance to display his softer comedic side which he does to great effect. He's truly charming and when he turns on his million-watt smile he's absolutely adorable. Plus he's great with the kids! Who knew? Nia Long's single mother is (for a change) not down on her luck but she isn't given much to do other than stand around looking worried. Funnyman Jay Mohr is also sadly underused as the token-white guy/best friend who plays basketball with the guys and gets to say things like "You've got to dump her because you're stuck in the Friend Zone!" Actress Nichelle Nichols--better known as Lt. Cmdr. Uhura on the original Star Trek--makes a hilarious cameo as Long's babysitter who may have taken one too many trips to Vegas. As for the youngest members of the cast Bolden (Johnson Family Vacation) and Allen (School of Rock) don't have a lot to do other than serve as composites of every annoying child you've ever met; the picky kid who won't eat orange food the sickly kid who's always looking for his inhaler the infuriating smart-mouth who doesn't know when to shut up the crybaby etc. etc. etc. All these traits packed into only two children can be enough to make you weep. Good thing Saturday Night Live alum Tracy Morgan is there to give advice as the voice of the bobble-headed dashboard doll fashioned after legendary baseball star Satchell Paige. Paige gets to serve as a sort of all-knowing sage who offers pithy observations as the action unfolds.
They say it's hard to work with animals and children and since the bulk of this film involves only Ice Cube and the two kids director Brian Levant (Snow Dogs) had his work cut out for him. Add to that the fact that there are a couple of actual animal scenes in the film and you have to admire Levant's courage. To his credit Levant is able to create a fast frenetic film full of wacky adventures and visual set-pieces that do add up to a satisfying payoff at the end. Like the car trip in the film however sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. Levant's broad strokes might be more suited to the children in the audience rather than the adults who are there with them. Although much has been made of Ice Cube playing "against type" in this mainstream family comedy chances are that the kids in the audience will have no idea what Ice Cube's type is let alone whether he's playing against it or not. I mean really how many 8-year olds will have seen Boyz 'N the Hood? Nevertheless parents can rest easy knowing that their children are in pretty good hands for 89 minutes.

The Writers Guild of America, west and East announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen, television and radio during the 2003 season.
Nominees in the original category went to independent art-house films, including Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra for Fox Searchlight's Bend It Like Beckham; Steven Knight for Miramax's Dirty Pretty Things; and Tom McCarthy for Miramax's The Station Agent.
Nominees for the adapted category went mostly high-profile releases, including Anthony Minghella for Miramax's Cold Mountain; Frances Walsh &amp; Philippa Boyens &amp; Peter Jackson for New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; and Gary Ross for Universal's Seabiscuit.
WGA noms are closely tracked as an indicator of Academy Awards sentiment. Guild winners in the original screenplay category have matched Oscar choices in 11 years over the past 21 while the WGA adapted screenplay award has matched with the Oscar winner in 14 years during the same period.
The films eligible for Writers Guild Awards were released in the year 2003 under the jurisdiction of Writers Guild of America, East and west and affiliate guilds in Australia, Canada, French Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and New Zealand.
In television, the nominated scripts were originally broadcast between December 1, 2002, and November 30, 2003.
The winners will be announced Saturday, February 21, 2004, at the 56th Annual Writers Guild Awards ceremonies on both coasts.
The Writers Guild of America, west ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles at the Century Plaza Hotel, and the Writers Guild of America, East ceremonies will be held in New York at The Pierre Hotel.
SCREEN NOMINEES
Original Screenplay
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, Written by Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra, Fox Searchlight Pictures
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, Written by Steven Knight, Miramax Films
IN AMERICA, Written by Jim Sheridan &amp; Naomi Sheridan &amp; Kirsten Sheridan, Fox Searchlight Pictures
LOST IN TRANSLATION, Written by Sofia Coppola, Focus Features
THE STATION AGENT, Written by Tom McCarthy, Miramax Films
Adapted Screenplay
AMERICAN SPLENDOR, Written by Robert Pulcini &amp; Shari Springer Berman, Based on the Comic Book Series by Harvey Pekar and the Novel by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner, HBO Films/Fine Line Features
COLD MOUNTAIN, Screenplay by Anthony Minghella, Based on the Novel by Charles Frazier, Miramax Films
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, Screenplay by Fran Walsh &amp; Philippa Boyens &amp; Peter Jackson, Based on the Novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, New Line Cinema
MYSTIC RIVER, Screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Based on the Novel by Dennis Lehane, Warner Bros. Pictures
SEABISCUIT, Screenplay by Gary Ross, Based on the Book by Laura Hillenbrand, Universal Pictures
TELEVISION NOMINEES
Episodic Drama --any length--one airing time
"ABOMINATION (Law &amp; Order: SVU), Written by Michele Fazekas &amp; Tara Butters; NBC
"BOUNTY (Law &amp; Order), Written by Michael S. Chernuchin; NBC
"DISASTER RELIEF (The West Wing), Teleplay by Alexa Junge, Story by Alexa Junge &amp; Lauren Schmidt; NBC
"LOSS (Law &amp; Order: SVU), Written by Michele Fazekas &amp; Tara Butters; NBC
"PILOT (The O.C.), Written by Josh Schwartz; Fox
"7:00 P.M. -- 8:00 P.M. (24), Written by Evan Katz; Fox
Episodic Comedy--any length--one airing time
"DAY CARE" (Malcolm in the Middle), Written by Gary Murphy &amp; Neil Thompson; Fox
"MALCOLM FILMS REESE" (Malcolm in the Middle), Written by Dan Kopelman; Fox
"NO SEX, PLEASE, WE'RE SKITTISH" (Frasier), Written by Bob Daily; NBC
"A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO SHOES" (Sex and the City), Written by Jenny Bicks; HBO
Original Long Form--over one hour--one or two parts, one or two airing times
AND STARRING PANCHO VILLA AS HIMSELF, Written by Larry Gelbart; HBO
Episode 1, "BEYOND THE SKY" and Episode 2, "JACOB AND JESSE" (Taken), Written by Leslie Bohem; USA
CAESAR, Written by Peter Pruce and Craig Warner; TNT
WILDER DAYS, Written by Jeff Stockwell; TNT
Adapted Long Form--over one hour--one or two parts, one or two airing times
NORMAL, Teleplay by Jane Anderson, Based on the play Looking for Normal by Jane Anderson; HBO
OUT OF THE ASHES, Teleplay by Anne Meredith, Based on the book I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz by Dr. Gisella Perl; Showtime
RUDY: THE RUDY GIULIANI STORY, Written by Stanley Weiser, Based on the book Rudy! by Wayne Barrett; USA
THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, Teleplay by Matthew McDuffie and Matthew Tabak, Based on the book by Ann Rule; USA
Animation--any length--one airing time
"THE DAD WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE" (The Simpsons), Written by Matt Selman; Fox
"MOE BABY BLUES" (The Simpsons), Written by J. Stewart Burns; Fox
MY MOTHER THE CARJACKER" (The Simpsons), Written by Michael Price; Fox
"REBORN TO BE WILD" (King of the Hill), Written by Tony Gama-Lobo &amp; Rebecca May; Fox
"RESCUE JET FUSION" (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius), Written by Steven Banks; Nickelodeon
"THE STING" (Futurama), Written by Patric M. Verrone; Fox
Comedy/Variety--Music, Awards, Tributes -- Specials -- any length
THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS, Written by George Stevens, Jr., Sara Lukinson and David Leaf; CBS
THE 75TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS, Written by Hal Kanter, Rita Cash, Buz Kohan, Special Material Written by Steve Martin, Beth Armogida, Dave Barry, Dave Boone, Andy Breckman, Jon Macks, Rita Rudner, Bruce Vilanch; ABC
Comedy/Variety--(including talk) Series
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, Written by Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Jonathan Glaser, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Andrew Secunda, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg; NBC
MAD TV, Writing supervised by Scott King, Written by Dick Blasucci, Lauren Dombrowski, Bryan Adams, Bruce McCoy, Michael Hitchcock, Steven Cragg, Chris Cluess, John Crane, Jennifer Joyce, Tami Sagher, David Salzman, Richard Talarico, Jim Wise, Kal Clarke, Sultan Pepper, Bill Kelley, Maiya Williams, Dino Stamatopoulos, Rick Najera, Brooks McBeth, Jason Kordelos, Michael McDonald, Stephnie Weir; FOX
PENN &amp; TELLER: BULLSHIT!, Written by Penn Jillette, Teller, David Wechter, John McLaughlin; Showtime
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, Written by Billy Martin, Scott Carter, David Feldman, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Bill Maher, Ned Rice, Paul F. Tompkins; HBO
Daytime Serials
ALL MY CHILDREN, Written by Agnes Nixon, Megan McTavish, Gordon Rayfield, Anna Theresa Cascio, Frederick Johnson, Jeff Beldner, Janet Iacobuzio, Lisa Connor, Addie Walsh, Victor Miller, Mimi Leahey, Bettina F. Bradbury, John PiRoman, Karen Lewis, Amanda Robb, Rebecca Taylor, Christina Covino, David A. Levinson; ABC
ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Written by Josh Griffith, Michael Malone, Shelly Altman, Lorraine Broderick, Richard Backus, Ron Carlivati, Anna Theresa Cascio, David Colson, Leslie Nipkow, Michelle Poteet Lisanti, Becky Cole, James Fryman, Katherine Schock, Ginger Redmon, Daniel Griffin; ABC
Children's Script
"DON'T LOOK BACK" (Out There), Written by Willie Reale and Mark Palmer; PBS
FULL COURT MIRACLE, Written by Joel Silverman and Joel Kauffmann &amp; Donald C. Yost; Disney Channel
I WAS A TEENAGE FAUST, Written by Thom Eberhardt; Showtime
THE MALDONADO MIRACLE, Teleplay by Paul W. Cooper, Based upon the novel "The Maldonado Miracle" by Theodore Taylor; Showtime
Documentary - Current Events
"TRUTH, WAR AND CONSEQUENCES" (Frontline), Written by Martin Smith; PBS
"THE WAR BEHIND CLOSED DOORS" (Frontline), Written by Michael J. Kirk; PBS
Documentary - Other Than Current Events
BECOMING AMERICAN: THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE--BETWEEN TWO WORLDS (PART 2), Written by Thomas Lennon &amp; Mi Ling Tsui and Bill Moyers; PBS
"CYBER WAR!" (Frontline), Written by Michael J. Kirk; PBS
"THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: THE STRING'S THE THING" (Nova), Written by Joseph McMaster; PBS
"THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: WELCOME TO THE 11TH DIMENSION" (Nova), Written by Julia Cort &amp; Joseph McMaster, PBS
"THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL" (The American Experience), Written by Marcia Smith, PBS
"SEABISCUIT" (The American Experience), Written by Michelle Ferrari; PBS
News - Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin or Breaking Report
"PASSING OF MUSIC LEGENDS" (CBS News Sunday Morning), Written by Robert Mank;
"CBS SHOWDOWN WITH SADDAM" (CBS News), Written by John Craig Wilson; CBS
News - Analysis, Feature, or Commentary
"BAPTISM BY FIRE" (60 Minutes), Written by Barbara Dury &amp; Morley Safer; CBS
"WALL STREET" (NOW with Bill Moyers), Written by Michael Winship &amp; Bill Moyers; PBS
RADIO NOMINEES
Documentary
AUTISM: SHADES OF GRAY, Written by Julia Kathan; ABC News Radio
News--Regularly Scheduled
AFTERNOON DRIVE, Written by Bill Spadaro; 1010 WINS Radio
WORLD NEWS THIS WEEK, Written by Stuart H. Chamberlain, Jr.; ABC News Radio
News--Analysis, Feature or Commentary
REMEMBERING ED BLISS, Written by Mike Silverstein; ABC News Radio
THE ROAD TO LAUGHTER: A TRIBUTE TO BOB HOPE, Written by Steven Gosset; CBS Radio Network
On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television)
BUFFY/ENTERPRISE, Written by Eric Jacobson; CBS/UPN

Danny Bonaduce and Emmanuel Lewis proved that their 15 minutes of fame is far from over.
The David Spade comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, which boasts cameos from Bonaduce and Lewis as well as Barry Williams, Dustin Diamond, Leif Garrett and Corey Feldman, took in a not-so-stellar $7 million* this weekend--just enough to edge past the lackluster competition to the top of the box office.
Last week's box office topper, Jeepers Creepers 2, lost more than half its opening draw and placed second this week with a humbling $6.7 million, while Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl anchored itself in third place with a swaggering $5.5 million.
The family remake Freaky Friday followed close behind the swashbuckling tale with a far-out $5.1 million, while the '70s-inspired cop actioner S.W.A.T. rounded out the Top Five with an arresting $4.6 million.
The supernatural thriller The Order, whose biggest omen was not screening for the press, debuted in sixth place with a sinful $4.3 million.
This dismal weekend, the Top 12 films grossed an ESTIMATED $50.8 million, down a whopping 37 percent from last weekend, when they grossed $81.6 million. The Top 12 movies were also down 14 percent from this time last year when they took in $59.1 million.
On a brighter note, the comedy American Wedding, which dropped out of the Top Ten this week, became the 20th film released in 2003 to cross the $100 million mark with its $2.1 million take.
THE TOP TEN
Paramount Picture's PG-13 rated comedy Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star debuted at the top of the box office this weekend with $7 million at 2,026 theaters. Its $3,455 per theater average was the highest of any film playing wide this weekend.
In the film, Dickie Roberts, a child star grown up into a 35-year-old has-been, decides to rent a family for a month to experience the childhood he never had--and land the part of a lifetime.
Directed by Sam Weisman, it stars David Spade, Jon Lovitz, Alyssa Milano, Doris Roberts, Craig Bierko and Mary McCormack.
MGM's R rated Jeepers Creepers 2, last week's box office topper, came in second with an ESTIMATED $6.7 million (-56%) in its second week in 3,124 theaters (unchanged; $2,150 per theater average). Its cume is approximately $27.4 million.
Directed by Victor Salva, it stars Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck, Nicki Lynn Aycox, Garikayi Mutambirwa and Lena Caldwell.
Buena Vista Pictures' PG-13 rated success story Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl climbed a notch to third in its ninth week with an ESTIMATED $5.5 million (-31%) at 2,203 theaters (-24 theaters; $2,497 per theater). Its cume is approximately $282 million.
Directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, it stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.
Buena Vista's PG rated family remake Freaky Friday slipped two spots to take the No. 4 position in its fifth week with an ESTIMATED $5.1 million (-45%) in 2,973 theaters (-94 theaters; $1,715 per theater). Its cume is $97.2 million.
Directed by Mark Waters, it stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon.
Sony Pictures' PG-13 rated S.W.A.T. dropped one place to No. 4 in its fifth week with an ESTIMATED $4.6 million (-45%) in 2,600 theaters (-181 theaters; $1,769 per theater). Its cume is approximately $108.8 million.
Directed by Clark Johnson, it stars Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J and Michelle Rodriguez.
*Box office estimates provided by Exhibitor Relations, Inc.
Twentieth Century Fox's R rated supernatural thriller The Order debuted in sixth place with an ESTIMATED $4.3 million in 1,975 theaters with a $2,182 per theater average.
In the movie, a renegade priest investigates an unexplained murder in a secret Order that has existed within the Church for centuries and discovers there is a fate worse than death.
Directed by Brian Helgeland, it stars Heath Ledger, Benno Furmann and Shannyn Sossamon.
Buena Vista's R rated Western Open Range fell two notches to come in seventh in its fourth week with an ESTIMATED $4 million (-50%) in 2,268 theaters (+24 theaters; $1,764 per theater). Its cume is approximately $49.1 million.
Directed by and starring Kevin Costner, it also stars Robert Duvall, Annette Bening, Diego Luna and Michael Gambon.
Universal Pictures' PG-13 rated equestrian drama Seabiscuit dropped two spots to finish in the No. 8 position in its seventh week with ESTIMATED $3.6 million (-44%) in 2,573 theaters (+17 theaters; $1,425 per theater). Its cume is approximately $109.6 million.
Directed by Gary Ross, it stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper.
New Line Cinema's R rated horror flick Freddy vs. Jason also slipped two places to No. 9 in its fourth week with an ESTIMATED $3.1 million (-55%) in 2,505 theaters (-424 theaters; $1,267 per theater). Its cume is approximately $78.2 million.
Directed by Ronny Yu, it stars Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger.
Rounding out the Top Ten is MGM's PG-13 rated riches-to-rags tale Uptown Girls, which dropped one spot to 10th in its fourth week with an ESTIMATED $2.4 million (-42%) in 2,031 theaters (-135; $1,206 per theater). Its cume is approximately $33.5 million.
Directed by Boaz Yakin, it stars Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Donald Faison, Marley Shelton and Heather Locklear.
WEEKEND COMPARISON
Last year's top three included: Twentieth Century Fox's PG-13 rated teen thriller Swimfan, which opened with $11.3 million in 2,855 theaters ($3,966 per theater average); the indie sleeper My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which came in second in its 21st week of release with $10.3 million at 1,695 theaters ($6,119 per theater); and Warner Bros.' R rated thriller City by the Sea, which debuted in third place with $8.9 million in 2,575 theaters ($3,470 per theater average).

It means that what little plot there is will be formulaic and predictable. It means a dashing hero will spout pithy one-liners while his sidekicks will try to be funny and fail. But there will also be a cool helicopter crash and a lot of firepower and maybe even some blood and guts. Cool! On that basis S.W.A.T. does not disappoint. It doesn't much matter that the villain of the story a drug trafficker/murderer/arms dealer called Alex Montel (Olivier Martinez) only really comes on the scene in the last 45 minutes or so or that until then the villain is any criminal anywhere in the city that comes in contact with the newly formed yet much-maligned five-person S.W.A.T. team that's the center of the story. Led by Sgt. "Hondo" Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) the team is composed mostly of the force's unreliable renegades and unwanted rejects: Jim Street (Colin Farrell) T.J. McCabe (Josh Charles) Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez) Michael Boxer (Brian Van Holt) and Deke Kaye (LL Cool J). After an intense training period and a few impressive successes the underdog team is called in to save the day when Montel makes a televised offer of $100 million to anyone who can break him out of jail--and L.A.'s criminal element comes out in force to do so.
The lack of a plot during the first hour and a half of this movie is probably why the studio is euphemistically billing it as "character-driven." It's kind of like saying that tiny efficiency apartment you're renting is "cozy." Don't let them get one over on you though; these characters are every bit as shallow as you expect gun-toting action heroes to be. If you want to know what drives somebody to tackle a profession that requires them to shoot people in cold blood on an almost daily basis you won't find out watching S.W.A.T.. Farrell at least seems to want to get at the underbelly of the S.W.A.T. psychology but his stereotypically heroic character lacks the complexity that would allow him to do it. So Farrell rolls those limpid brown eyes wildly in their sockets as if he's trying to let out his inner serial killer and mumbles his way through the lines. Jackson on the other hand doesn't even try to give us more. He simply phones this one in ("$20 million? Summer blockbuster? Sure I'll do it. What's it about again?"). Fortunately Rodriguez is more bearable as the tough Sanchez--she lights up the screen and has great timing--and Martinez makes a very sexy bad guy.
The amount of gun violence in S.W.A.T. is particularly startling even for a big blockbuster because the aforementioned shallow characters never really reflect on what they do. The film justifies its violence in one line of dialogue--"S.W.A.T. is a life saving organization not a life taking one"--yet we only meet one person whose life was saved and even she took a bullet in the process. But we do see an awful lot of nameless faceless criminals get blown to bits. Don't get me wrong; I'm no Joe Lieberman. I loved Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers and I think Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are among the best movies ever made. It's not that there's even anything wrong with a good ol' fashioned shoot-'em-up movie--although how S.W.A.T. ever got a PG-13 rating is beyond me. Just don't patronize the audience with some false justification for blowing away half the cast and most of the extras. We're really much smarter than that.

With its twisty-turning plot and military setting Basic could be the love child of an illicit affair between The Usual Suspects and The General's Daughter; it even borrows the star of the latter. In Basic John Travolta plays Tom Hardy a former Army Ranger and interrogator extraordinaire who's now a DEA agent in Panama suspended from duty on suspicion of bribery. He's hitting the rebellious law enforcement officer's requisite bottle of Jack Daniels heavily--until an old friend on the local army base Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly) calls him in to investigate the disappearances and probable deaths of an elite group of trainees and their commander Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L Jackson) during a training session in the Panamanian jungle. Staff investigator Lt. Julia Osbourne (Connie Nielsen) a plucky Southern gal who's none too pleased with Hardy's invasion of her turf is assigned to help Hardy question the unit's surviving members Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi) and Dunbar (Brian Van Holt). As their stories unfold over a series of flashbacks the interrogators discover a military underworld of drugs murder and coercion--and the mysterious existence of a rogue Ranger unit called "Section 8." Now for an interrogation of our own. Is the plot convoluted? Sir yes sir! Is it too tricky for its own good? Sir yes sir! Thank you soldier. You may stand down.
The trigger-finger pointing winking cluck-clucking "gotcha" persona Travolta (Swordfish Domestic Disturbance) creates in Hardy is as appropriate to the story as it can possibly be; the way he manipulates his subjects under interrogation is much the same way the story manipulates its audience. He leads them--and the observant Lt. Osbourne--to believe one thing then pulls the rug out from under them to prove the old cliché of military movies: that nothing is as it seems. In Nielsen's (The Hunted One Hour Photo) Osbourne we're given a character who could lead us through the jungle of the plot (she discovers the "facts" at the same time as the audience so her reaction is meant I suppose to be ours) but since Hardy spends much of his time making her look and feel like an idiot she comes off as one and frankly so do we. The talented Jackson (Changing Lanes) mostly does the bellowing drill sergeant bit while Ribisi (Heaven) as the homosexual son of a high-ranking general talks like he has cotton wool in his mouth and moves and twitches like he's mildly brain-impaired. (His character's not supposed to be; he only got shot in the leg.) One bright spot in this movie is the featured role for hunky Van Holt (Windtalkers Black Hawk Down) whose chiseled good looks and heroic demeanor make him a shoo-in should anyone ever make a live-action Johnny Bravo movie.
Director John McTiernan has given audiences some heavy-duty action in Die Hard Die Hard With a Vengeance and The Hunt for Red October but he's also the director who brought us such gems as Rollerball and Last Action Hero so it's not surprising that in Basic we get some action and intrigue paired with the out-there story stylings and narrative confusion of some of his less successful work. Here each flashback brings new information that conflicts with what we've been told before and the story never really resolves those conflicts in any satisfying way. The "big twist" at the end instead of bringing it all together creates gaping holes in the plot or at least creates so much doubt in the story we've just spent an hour and a half watching that it's easy to get fed up with trying to figure it out. Naturally no one likes to be spoon-fed plot resolutions but in order for twists to work they have to give the audience something to focus its doubt on--they can't just call the whole kit and caboodle into question. We have to be able eventually to figure it out. But hey maybe we aren't supposed to work out the details; after all this movie with its catchy one-word title and colorful cast of characters is just begging for a sequel: Basic 2: Explaining the First Movie.